That day in 2001 marked the end of a lot of the stability in our lives. The stability had first been shaken by a Computer Science Prophecy of a New Year's Eve 2000 computer bug causing the end of the world trade system. That had no truth as it turned out. Except it proved that mega-money scams can now be easily implemented whenever a Government Conspiracy mandates belief in one after another "scientists" predictions of the end of the world that can only be stopped by surrendering all our money to the Government's earmarked best friends.

Only time precludes us from replacing those terrible images from the pentagon and the former World Trade Center with images of our enemies being implacably destroyed ten times fold.

When Bush says “all our resources” he is including weapons of mass destruction. A refusal to hand over the people responsible MAY engender just such a fate. I don’t think these people even realize the implication of what they have unleashed.

I tried to make it through that stuff Lem but it is too sad. I’ll start crying and that’s no fun when you’re at work. At least no one else is in my office!

What I did read reminds me of how we feared the loss of life would be so much greater. Thank God it wasn’t as high as some of those early estimates.

My saddest memory post 9/11 (the whole day was sad as hell) was when I went to this luncheon thing with Ted Olsen and it turned out to be pretty much a memorial for his wife, who died on one of the dulles planes. That was so, so sad.

i watched the news from within minutes of the first plane hitting the WTC. i can't describe how i felt, though i was pacing a lot and shaking my hands like they'd fallen asleep. it was surreal. a little after the second plane went down, i heard a loud 'explosion', or what sounded like an explosion to my racing imagination. i heard it 2-3 more times in rapid succession, and ran to the door to see what it was.

it was some guys tossing things from a 2nd storey window into an empty steel dumpster.

some time later, glued to the TV, i heard a low rumbling sound. it sounded like a jet of some sort - fighter, passenger, something. then there was this odd 'bink' sound, and i returned back from where ever i was.

as with the first imagined attack, this one turned out to be a golf ball being pushed along the dining room floor by a kitten. (yes, i laughed, partly from the humour and partly from relief).

these were silly imaginings, had by someone hundreds of miles away from the terror, but what made me think of them again was what carolyn had written so early this morning: if this is how we're reacting to what we saw, what must being going threw the minds of the people who watched the planes collide with the buildings from immediately below the WTC towers? Or watched people leaping to what we can only hope, morbidly, was a mercifully quick death? Or heard the phone call from a family member or coworker end abruptly, only to find out later why? Or watched, helplessly, as 107 storeys of concrete, steel and glass rained down on NYFD and NYPD members as they tried in vain to outrun their fate?

the canadian blood services received so many calls, their lines were tied up. the main hamilton office is only a 10 minute walk from my house, so i will probably make my way there this morning.

a year from now, we'll be watching a cnn retrospective on 'america under attack', and watch how the next 365 days has played out.

it is my fervent hope that on sept 11, 2002, part of that review includes the retribution exacted by the US on the behalf of those people whose lives were shattered yesterday morning.

i do not want to hear that 'violence begets violence', or that we won't accomplish anything by returning in kind what was done yesterday. this is no time to reason like hamlet, and exclude each course of action because of what might happen.

osama bin laden is not interested in peace or diplomacy, or interested in compromise or discussion. his is a world of guns and rockets, of any means to an end, of holding the world hostage.

it should be made known to both him and the taliban government of afghanistan which hosts and protects him, that the global society in which they exist, a society which they seek to alter against its collective will, will not be idle in its resolve to rid the world of evil.

my thoughts and prayers are with the men and women who lost their lives yesterday; with those still trapped beneath tons of rubble; with the rescue workers; with those whose lives will be forever effected by the events of yesterday; and with the george bush, on whose shoulders the mantle of justice now rests.

Althouse - One of the most beautiful color composition photos you have taken. A tribute to you and to the person(s) that planned that garden and kept it up.

I visited your site 2 times today and stop and look at that photo for minutes, then go back to it and gaze again after writing a few comments....To me, blue, green, teal, turquoise with sides or background of some black, silver, and white mixed in - are calming, reflective colors - and in combined composition.When does the Althouse coffee table photo art book, or site where you can purchase & get poster prints of Althouse photos from Flicker come up??I have a hankering for the willows and reflected water shot, this one, and maybe 20 others..

@Cedarford Thank you. Click through to the Flickr page and you'll see you can download a full size digital file of any of my photos and print out a poster yourself under the Creative Commons license if you like.

For the most part, I used to always prefer photographs that included people. Somehow I've been "led astray" here at Althouse, and I can't decide exactly why that is?

I have two, very personal theories:

1. Althouse's pictures, along with their introductions, are hitting some current nerve in my psyche, or

2. Because I started to dabble in painting, and because I like painting beautiful things, I look at nearly every Althouse photograph as something I might like to paint...but I CANNOT paint people, and thank goodness, she doesn't muddy up too many of her pictures with people.

By the way, Ann, I was talked into entering some of my paintings in my arts' group show at a local community gallery. Someone's art needed to say "new kid on the block", and THAT had my name all over it.

I was proud I had the courage to try, and proud to have the courage to show as the least accomplished among many. It didn't feel good at first, but I did it anyway.

One of these paintings was from your photograph of an iris. You know my email address, and I would consider it an honor to send you this painting as my "thanks for the inspiration".

You won't be hanging it in your home, but you might pull it out, with all its obvious inadequacies, to motivate your next class of new law students.

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